Get the Website You Want Virtually Free II

In the second installment on getting a free website, we will explore our options for building a site using the General Public License (GPL) and Open Source Software. Before continuing, it would be a good idea to gain some background on these entities so you will understand the concept and how to use software released under the GPL. There are other free software licenses but for purposes of this tutorial, we will focus exclusively on the GNU/GPL.

Basically, the GPL and Open Source Software is public domain software. In oversimplified terms, it is free software. For more information please see the GNU Project and Free Software Foundation FAQs here. This is where we begin gathering our tools to build a professional, high-quality website.

Long before website templates, text and graphics editors and other web building tools, websites had to be built from scratch and coded by hand using a computer language. The most common and arguably the easiest to understand language was HTML. Other, more advanced languages were also used to implement dynamic and interactive functions of a website that could take weeks or months to build and code by hand.

Today, we have Open Source projects such as Drupal, Joomla and Wordpress. These projects are continuously updated, upgraded and extended thanks to the contributions of a growing community of developers worldwide. Every day, these talented programmers, engineers and developers volunteer their time and expertise creating templates, modules, plugins and components for these projects; making it easy for individuals to create top-notch, professional websites with virtually no technical skill. And best of all, it’s free.

As I mentioned in my previous post, the word “free” is relative. If your time is worth anything then there is no such thing as free. But literally speaking you can own a website without spending any money.

With that said, the benevolence of these creative, big-brained souls should not go unsung. To me, a simple ‘thank you’, just seems so inadequate. Therefore, if you choose to use the knowledge so freely given and readily available to anyone, consider donating a few bucks to the project or developer of your choice. Believe me, these guys and gals are not getting rich doing what they do; they do it because they love what they do, otherwise you would never see that familiar PayPal Donate button in the ‘download free’ section of their websites.

Now, let’s begin.

Like anything you’re attempting to create, you have to plan. If you don’t already know, decide what your website will be about. If it’s a blog you want, you really don’t need an Open Source Content Management System. You could start here. I use this site, Blogger http://www.Blogger.com to write this blog. I do have other blogs on sites that I own, but that is not what we are trying to achieve. Do you want to sell products online? Do you offer a service? Is it an informational website, etc.?

Assuming you are not a web designer or developer, once you know what your website is going to be about, you must choose a Content Management System (CMS) for your website. This will make it relatively easy for you to create and build a custom website.

For example, a writer may use Wordpress to create their site. Or, based on personal preference, an individual may choose Joomla! or Drupal to build an ecommerce site along the lines of Ebay or Overstock. Personally, I prefer Joomla!. From informational and news websites, to a site about building websites, I’ve created a dozen web properties using the Joomla! CMS for clients and myself.

I suggest you do your homework and research the various Open Source Software projects and read their documentation before you choose. Also, there are dozens if not hundreds of tutorials available to help you set up, install and launch your project.

The reality is, no matter what the plan, it all boils down to what you like. So, before you download and install that beautiful template on your machine, make sure you choose the CMS that is right for you.

Up next: The not-so-dirty dozen. The 12 must-have extensions for Joomla!